Hizen country, Karatsu.

On the island mountain at the mouth of the Matsuura River in the Karatsu Plains is Karatsu Castle, a typical Hirayama castle. It consists of Honmaru, Ninomaru, Sannomaru, and Castle Town.

The castle is only 40 years old and is the product of Japan's Keicho castle construction boom, and the materials used to build the castle were all obtained after the demolition of Nagoya Castle, a military castle built during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's two invasions of Korea.

The feudal lord lived in Honmaru and the center was the castle tower.

The castle tower is a type of Japanese-style castle that is usually located at the central commanding point of the castle and is the tallest building in the castle, and it is also a strong military defense facility in wartime, and it has the role of observation and command.

At the same time, the castle tower is the most important and tallest building in Japan, symbolizing the power and status of the daimyo in the area. However, daimyo usually did not live in the castle tower, but in the main hall, which was built separately in the center of the castle.

In the peaceful era, feudal lords often entered the castle tower only once a year or even once a lifetime.

However, at this time, the lord of Karatsu, Tera Tsukutaka, and his retainers were standing on the castle tower, and they could clearly see the sea in the distance.

At this time, on the blue sea, there were a few white sails between the small islands.

Hundreds of warships of all sizes appeared on the sea, with white sails and blue flags on their hulls.

The castle tower of Karatsu is not too large, and a small castle tower is added to the watchtower, making the castle tower like a temple tower, exquisite and beautiful, but lacking in atmosphere.

"The head of the family, the Han people are here!"

On the sea, Zheng Lian, commander of the Seventh Fleet, held a clairvoyant mirror and looked at the conspicuous gray and white castle on the mountain.

"The Tangjin castle tower is also too small, and it is not as good as a city gate tower on the city wall of the capital division."

"That's the case in Japan, this Tangjin is just a small domain, with a stone height of 80,000, if it is put in our Han Empire. It is only the size of a township in the southeast, and it is far from even a county. ”

The land that produces 80,000 stones, in the past, there was more than one big landlord in the Ming Dynasty, and those big landlords of King Fu and King Zhou all had millions of acres of fertile land.

"This Karatsu Castle used to be a port from Japan to the Central Plains, and it used to be very prosperous. Today, however, it is famous for producing pottery. Their Karatsu-yaki is famous in Japan. ”

Zheng Lian sneered twice, "I want to know where the confidence of this temple ruler comes from, and I actually want to block the car with a praying mantis!" ”

"Let the capital ships get ready, and after entering the firing range, drop anchor to bombard Dangjin, and the frigates cover the transport ships to land near the estuary." After speaking, Zheng Lian looked up at the sky, it was still very early at this time, nearly noon.

"Take Karatsu and go into the city for lunch!"

The four feudal lords such as Nabeshima and Shimazu also followed the battleship. They stood on the deck, feeling the enormity and majesty of the sea beast under their feet, and their hearts trembled secretly.

The first-class battleship with three gun decks was staggeringly large, with more than 100 cannons, and the sailors and gunners on board were full of more than 1,000 people, such a huge ship was larger than the ships of the Dutch, Spaniards and other Nanban ships in the past.

The fleet slowly sailed into the port of Karatsu. A field of sailing ships sailed out of the shore of Karatsu Domain.

There were about a hundred boats, all small sailboats. Some are even just rudimentary fishing boats.

Looking at these small boats, the corners of Nabeshima's eyes twitched, and he was a little amazed at the bravery of the feudal lords of Karatsu, but also sorry for their inadequacy.

Tong Haifeng commanded the sixth-class warship and sailed in front of the fleet.

A flag was raised in the back, and the frigates came forward to sink the boats.

Although he commanded only sixth-class warships. But there are also thirty-two large and small guns, and in the Seventh Fleet patrolling the sea for more than half a year, Tong Haifeng already knows his ship well, and he knows very well the strength of the Japanese, this Tangjin Domain. Even in Kyushu, it is at the bottom.

"Sink them!"

Tong Haifeng ordered, and almost at the same time, the captains of more than a dozen frigates gave the same order.

One by one, the frigates began to adjust their direction and flank the ships of the Tangjin people.

Regardless of whether these Japanese ships wanted to fight on the side or set fire to the ships, they had to pass the frigate first.

In the sequence of naval warships of the Han Dynasty, the warships used in combat are generally divided into six classes, and the first, second and third classes are the main battleships, also known as battleships. Fourth, fifth, and sixth-class warships can also be further subdivided, fourth-class ships are also called cruisers, fifth-class ships are called destroyers, and sixth-class ships are frigates.

But no matter what class of ship it is, the gunfire of the Han's warships is quite powerful. Any sixth-class warship, that is not a small Japanese fishing boat can compete.

Nabeshima and the others saw a dozen frigates rushing out first, and then began to seize the upper hand, and then turned around and changed to ships that were sideways towards Karatsu.

The movements were very fast, and the movements of a dozen boats were very consistent and neat.

Immediately afterwards, the side of these ships was seen flashing with fire, and the guns on the side of a dozen ships were fired one after another.

Clusters of flames flashed, followed by a thunderclap.

A cannonball directly hit a Karatsu ship, which looked like a merchant ship, exploded violently, almost breaking at the waist, revealing a huge hole in the middle, and then quickly sank.

Nabeshima simply kept believing that what kind of shell was so powerful?

Although the artillery is strong, under normal circumstances, unless it hits the waterline directly, it often only makes a big hole in the hull, and it cannot destroy a ship at once.

When warships engage at sea, they often attack the mast with chain bullets first, causing the ship to lose power. Then he gained the upper hand and slammed the ship that had lost its speed, smashing it to pieces with a sea of cannonballs.

The Han ship was not big, but it smashed a Tangjin ship that was not smaller than the Han ship with one shot, which simply subverted their cognition.

On the other hand, Zheng Lian was very satisfied with this first round of attacks, although the frigate was the lightest sixth-class ship, and it was usually more responsible for transportation liaison and patrol, but at this time, the Japanese ships sent out to fight were wiped out.

"It seems that our explosive bombs are really good, and they are more powerful and easy to use at sea."

The bomb that smashed a ship just now was thanks to that explosive bomb.

In previous naval battles, the guns on the battleships used solid shells. But this time, the Han army used explosive bombs, and the explosive bombs detonated with a delayed fuse were actually the shrapnel used by the army.

Explosive bombs are more effective against wooden warships, which can cause more damage. One bang can hit a big hole, and his strongest is explosive power rather than penetrating power. This bomb is undoubtedly stronger than ordinary solid shells.

However, explosive shells also have high requirements, first of all, they must have a very accurate delayed fuse, and secondly, the shooting accuracy of the gun is higher. This explosive bomb is also very dangerous, if it is not handled properly, if it explodes on a ship. The boat is also made of wood, which will also be very harmful.

Fortunately, the delay leading technology of the Han army is very superb, and it is not afraid of others copying the past, the principle is very simple, but the process required is very high, especially the bombs that need to be mass-produced, and there must be excellent gunners to operate.

Dahan has both an excellent military industrial system and skilled gunners.

One artillery after another bombarded incessantly, and the gunners skillfully loaded and fired. Loading and shooting, under this fierce artillery fire, more than 100 small boats could not be relied on at all, and were smashed and sunk one after another.

The samurai and sailors on these small ships were still armed with rudimentary iron cannons, and the guns on the ships were still Franc cannons, but they could not even reach the range of their own iron cannons and Franc cannons, so they were destroyed.

Tong Haifeng looked at the countless broken ship fragments on the sea. And the sailors who were struggling on the water, expressionless.

This does not feel at all commendable in the fact that this round of artillery has just destroyed a hundred or so small fishing boats.

The ship adjusts its direction. Keep going, towards the mouth of the river.

Those Karatsu feudal warriors who fell into the water in the sea had their own people behind them to salvage the prisoners, so they didn't need to worry about it.

The mouth of the river is empty.

Karatsu's samurai and peasants all hid in the pine forest on the shore and watched as more than a hundred boats were destroyed in an instant. They were all shocked and did not dare to show their heads.

Samurai with katanas in their hands and peasant soldiers with bamboo spears in their hands are fighting in two arms.

More than a dozen frigates under the command of Tong Haifeng and others approached the shore very easily, and each ship aimed the guns on one side of the shore at the shore.

Many landing craft had been lowered on the transports behind, and groups of marines quickly rowed to the shore on the landing craft.

All the way to their landing craft coming ashore. None of the Japanese dared to come.

The first batch of marines disembarked and landed, and they quickly formed a formation on land, rows of muskets raised, and soldiers carrying mountain grenades disembarking from the ship and began to assemble on the shore.

Seeing more and more Han troops landing, a samurai in the pine forest finally couldn't help it.

He drew his katana and roared, and then rushed out of the pine forest and toward the shore. Someone charged, and the samurai behind began to follow, and gradually the peasants were also driven out.

"Ready!"

A company commander shouted an order, and the drums were accompanied by the sound of trumpets and whistles, and the marines on the shore lined up in a neat array, and pointed their guns at the samurai and peasants who rushed out.

Some of them were wielding knives, some were holding iron spears, some were holding bows and arrows, and some were holding bamboo spears.

They shouted and cheered themselves on, and rushed out in a swarm, about two or three thousand people.

The musket array of the Han army was no match for even the Jurchen Eight Banners and the Mongol iron cavalry, let alone a group of Japanese rabble.

The Marines stood there, like an iron wall, not moving.

Behind, Tong Haifeng on the frigate had already ordered the cannon to be fired.

These Japanese have broken brains, and the guns on the battleships of the Han army are vegetarians? The Marine Infantry's backs to the battleships are equivalent to backing an artillery position, a dozen boats, even if they can only fire one cannon at the same time, it is equivalent to more than a hundred guns.

An infantry musket formation supported by more than a hundred artillery pieces, the Japanese actually dared to rush out of the pine forest like this, on such an open riverside flat ground, it was not looking for death.

However, Tong Haifeng has no merciful thoughts, since you are here to find death, then it will be fulfilled.

The guns on the battleship roared again, still explosive shells. After calculating and adjusting the fuses of each shell, the shells flew to the heads of the Japanese soldiers with a roar, and then exploded with a bang, blowing up a large area.

No matter how brave the samurai were, the armor on their bodies could not stop such a shrapnel fragment attack.

The artillery fire continued, but several company commanders of the Marine Infantry had already given the order to advance.

In the sound of artillery, the drummers and trumpeters of the military band beat the trumpet, and the infantry marched in unison to the beat of the drums, and when they advanced, they carried their guns on their shoulders in strict accordance with the drills.

These infantrymen wore blue and red-trimmed uniforms, which were completely distinguished from the army's red-trimmed and blue-trimmed uniforms.

The neat pace, the solemn military discipline, no one is afraid, no one panics, and countless hours of training have allowed them to stride forward under the command of the military order on the battlefield where the artillery is flying now.

"Stand!"

The company commander shouted an order, and the infantry stopped, and then, under one command, began to raise their guns and aimed them at the Karatsu soldiers who had already entered the firing range.

At the sound of the iron whistle, rows and rows of soldiers began to pull the trigger.

A row of guns was released, and they immediately squatted down to load, and when they were done, they stood together again and released their guns according to the order.

This continuous platoon of guns is no less lethal than artillery.

With each round, they advance a section.

"Karatsu Domain is over." Nabeshima sighed.

The rest of the Japanese feudal lords and their branches and retainers were also deeply shocked, and the Han army's attack was smooth and smooth, not to mention the small 80,000 koku Karatsu clan in front of them, even the Shimazu clan of the Kagoshima Satsuma clan with 700,000 koku and the Mori clan of the Choshu domain were still invincible.

Karatsu's attack was a suicide, tragic, but stupid.

The Tangjin army of two or three thousand men on the bank of the river had already been routed, and in the face of heavy artillery fire and rows of musket bullets, there was no one to stop them.

After defeating the Tangjin army on the shore, the Han army did not immediately pursue it.

They occupied the shore and then followed the steady landing of the soldiers behind.

Several company commanders in their own companies constantly announced battlefield discipline to their soldiers.

"Brothers, listen well, it is forbidden to torture and kill prisoners, and those who give up resistance will be taken prisoner and not killed. Attacking Tangjin City, robbery is strictly prohibited, and **** arson is not allowed, and it is not allowed to kill the Japanese people. ”

"It is forbidden to hide the booty privately, and all the seizures will go to the public!"

"Those who violate military discipline will be severely punished!"

A soldier raised his hand, "Report to the sir, it's too good for these widows, right?" ”

"You know a fart, this Tangjin City will be my Han's Tangjin City in the future, if you burn it, it will burn the property of the empire. The soldiers and people of Tangjin will also be the private property of our Han Empire in the future, if you kill one, the Han will lose a fortune. Damaging Imperial property, that's a serious crime, you know? ”

Before the battle, the above had already been reaffirmed. This time the Japanese are not snatched and left, nor is it killed and finished. This time, the goal is to take the entire Kyushu and incorporate it into the territory of the empire, and in the future, this will be a part of the Han Dynasty, and this mountain, sea, river, city, and village will all be the property of the empire.

There are also those Japanese people, who will also become the property of the empire, and in the future, they will move to various places on the mainland border, prospect for mines, build roads, open up wasteland, and serve the empire, how can they be killed casually. (To be continued.) )